We've noticed, over the past few years, that the business side of Caffeine Angel Studios does best when we invite you guys to be involved in the process. That's what this board is for... it's for helping us grow and develop the company, so that we can do a better job of keeping you all happy.

This is not the same thing as the suggestions board. That's for proposing ideas that you, personally, want to see implemented. This board is for a practical examination of business-related ideas, and figuring them out and expanding them to be something that's just right for both the company and the community. Effectively, this is our sounding board, so that anyone who cares to help us develop ideas for the company has an opportunity to be heard.

So far your business model seems to be working pretty well for you. The only thing that seems to get in the way is the need for donations. Donations are often hard to come by when your audience is in their teens to mid-twenties. What you need is a surefire way to make sure donations are just "extra money". At this time, you have mentioned having paid members. That would probably run the same course as donations -- no money to buy the upgrade from your audience.

I suggest another solution. Find a sponsor that will have access to some part of your trademark. For instance, some clothing companies would probably pay a little for the rights to use Ellis on a shirt or possibly Meji. Broker a deal where you get royalties from sales as well as sum up front for the rights.

If that fails, market your plushies to local businesses. Partner the plushies with a tiny pamphlet-like comic that would at least give the buyer an idea of where the toy came from, and possibly draw people toward ES. You would share the sales revenue with the store, but the products would be out making money rather than selling exclusively to the current ES audience. If this idea went well, you'd start looking beyond the scope of local businesses and into area-wide. Hopefully, with success, someone would pick up on the idea and start asking if they could sell your plushies in their stores.